Decoding tat 10 the defense mechanism manual part1(denial)

Compiled by Col Mukteshwar Prasad(Retd),
Mtech(IITD),CE(I),FIE(I),FIETE,FISLE,FInstOD,AMCSI
Contact -9007224278, e-mail –
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for book ”Decoding Services Selection Board” and SSB
guidance and training at Shivnandani Edu and Defence
Academy
Decoding TAT -10
Three Defenses and The Defense Mechanism
Manual –Part 1 (Denial)

Introduction
 The function of defenses has been modified over the years, from
a counter-force against instincts to the protection of self-esteem.
 To understand the role of defenses in pathological and normal
development, a coding method to use with Thematic
Apperception Test (TAT) stories – the Defense Mechanism
Manual (Cramer, 1991a) – has been developed
 Three broad defenses – Denial, Projection, and Identification –
may be coded with this method.
 Research has shown that the two ego functions of defense
and IQ are not correlated in childhood and adolescence, but
are correlated in adulthood defenses and IQ.
 Importantly, IQ serves as a moderator for the effect of defense
use on variables such as
 Psychiatric symptom change,
 Level of Ego Development, and
 Big Five personality traits

The Defense Mechanism Manual
 The Defense Mechanism Manual was developed to assess the use of three
defenses as told in standard TAT—
 Denial,
 Projection, and
 Identification
 Specific criteria have been developed for
 TAT Cards 1, 2, 3BM, 3GF, 4, 5, 6BM, 6GF, 7BM, 7GF, 8BM, 8GF, 10,
12F,12MF, 13G, 13MF, 14, 15, 17BM, 18GF, 20
(For Pictures refer https://www.slideshare.net/ColMukteshwarPrasad/decoding-
tat-5-theme-elicited-from-murrays-cards)
 The scoring for each defense is based on seven categories, each
designed to reflect a different aspect of the defense.
 Each category may be scored as often as necessary, with the exception of
a direct repetition in the story; in cases of repetition, the category is scored
only once
 Although examples are provided to aid in deciding whether a category
should be scored or not, inevitably questions will arise.
 A thorough knowledge of the nature of the defense mechanisms will help
in answering these questions.
 Beyond this, the general rule to be followed is, “When in doubt, leave it
out.”
 That is, if there is a serious question about whether or not the story
segment is an example of the defense, do not score it.

Coding Category of TAT of 3 broad defenses – Denial, Projection, and
Identification
Denial PROJECTION: IDENTIFICATION:
1.Omission 1.Attribution of Aggressive or Hostile
Feeling, Emotions, or Intentions to a
Character, or Other Feelings,
Emotions, or Intentions that are
Normatively Unusual.
1.Emulation of
Skills
2.Misperception 2.Additions of Ominous People,
Ghosts, Animals, Objects or
Qualities.
2.Emulation of
Characteristics
3.Reversal 3. Magical or Circumstantial Thinking 3.Regulation of
Motives or Behavior
4.Statements of
Negation
4. Concern for Protection from
External Threat
4.Self-esteem
through Affiliation
5.Denial of Reality 5.Apprehensiveness of Death, Injury,
or Assault
5.Work: Delay of
Gratification
6.Overly Maximizing
Positive, Minimizing
Negative
6. Themes of Pursuit, Entrapment,
and Escape
6.Role
Differentiation
7.Unexpected
Goodness,
7.Bizarre or Very Unusual Story or
Theme
7.Moralism

Denial
 A . Primitive Denial
 The story-teller assumes that the stimulus card is
something, and the defense is seen in the avoidance or
changing the nature of that thing.
 1. Omission of Major Characters of Objects-Failure to
perceive salient stimuli(the major or obvious objects) that
are perceived by nearly all one’s peers .
 Do not score if reference to the function of a critical object
is made.
 For example, the knife in TAT 8BM may be implied by
the mention of an operation, or stabbing;
 the gun in TAT 8BM may be implied by shooting;
 On TAT 1, reference to the object, even if not named, is
sufficient. (However, if it is named incorrectly, score
under Denial(2).
 On TAT 7GF, reference to “holding something” is
sufficient.

TAT NO Omission of Major
Object(1)
Misperception
1 boy ,violin
2 girl in front , pregnant
woman (pregnancy must be
indicated), man (or, family,
parents)
3BM person, gun or knife
3GF Person
4 Man , woman
5 Woman, room
6BM young man, older woman
6GF man ,woman
7BM older man, younger man
7GF young girl, woman, baby or
doll
8BM gun, knife, standing young

Object
Misperception
10 human figure 1, human
figure 2
12F young woman, old
woman
12MF standing man, prone man
13G stairway , female figure
13MF standing man, prone
woman
14 standing man, window
15 man, tombstones
(graveyard)
17BM man ,rope
18GF woman above,1woman
below

Denial
 A . Primitive Denial …..
 2.Misperception
 This may come about because
 The perceptual process itself is distorted due to pathology, or
 In the case of a child or inexperienced person the name of the object is not
known, and the individual defensively calls it something it is not.
 In a situation in which the individual does not have all the information
needed, he is able to cope
 Adaptively, or
 Whether he must distort the situation to fit his inadequate knowledge.
 Examples of adaptive coping are seen in the following two stories to TAT
1.In both cases, the child is uncertain about how to identify the violin:
 “This person is thinking what to do, with something that is in front of
him . He might use it for something, or something might happen. The
thing that might happen is that he might think of something to do with
the thing. (What happens?) He’s going to do something with it. He’s
thinking what he will use it for, what it is supposed to be used for; on
some kind of material, which is called paper.”
 “That’s a little boy. He’s down on his work bench and he’s looking this
over and he’s wondering what it is. And he’s wondering if he’ll ever
find out. He can’t wait ‘till his father comes home so he can ask his
father. And he’s kind of sitting there wondering when his father will come

Denial
 2.Misperception…. e wondering when his father will come home.”
 (a) Any unusual or distorted perception of a figure, object, or action in the
picture which is without sufficient support for the observation , if and only if
the projected image is NOT of ominous quality, in which case it would be
scored under Projection.
 (b) Perception of a figure as being of the opposite sex from that usually
perceived“
 Note: If the story-teller misperceives an object, and then corrects the
misperception, score Denial(2).
 If, after the correction, he continues to use the misperception as the basis for
the story, score also under Denial(5).
 Do not score on TAT 1 if children call the violin a guitar, harp, or instrument.
 Do not score if violin is called a “thing”, “object”, or “that”.
 Only score when violin is turned into something other than a musical
instrument.
 Do not score if violin is referred to as “homework or a“project” unless it is
clear that this means something other than a violin- e.g., a book, a boat, etc.

Object(1)
Misperception
Distorted
Perception
Opposite Sex
1 • boy ,violin “That’s a cross-
bow;”
“He’s eating;”
3BM person, gun or knife “The child on the
floor”
8BM gun, knife, standing
young man ,prone man
“The man is
tickling the man
lying down;”

TAT NO Omission of
Major Object
Misperception
Distorted Perception Opposite Sex
10 human figure 1,
human figure 2
(TAT10) Perceiving both
characters as “young”;
Perceiving both
characters as
female, or both as
male.
12MF standing man,
prone man
(TAT12M) The girl on the
couch”[As of 2000, many see
this figureas female. Thus, after
this date, do not score “girl” as
a Misperception]
14 standing man,
window
“A child at the
window”
15 man,
tombstones
(graveyard)
(TAT15) score “ghost” under
Projection
17BM man ,rope “ That’s a statue climbing down
a rope”
“ Is that a picture of me?” (S is

Denial
 3. Reversal
 The reversal may be either in terms of the usual perception of the card or in
the story itself, especially when the reversal is normatively unusual.
 (a)Transformations such as weakness into strength, fear in to courage,
passivity into activity, and vice versa.
 “He had been king of the jungle, but now he was very old”;
 “The mouse used to be afraid; then he grew up and fought the lion”;
 “He used to be an excellent surgeon, but then he killed a man by mistake”;
 Note: If the transformation involves a drastic change for the good, score under
Denial(7).
 (b) Score any figure who takes on qualities previously stated conversely in
the story, including change of sex of figure.
 Reversal differs from Denial(4) and Denial(6) in that it involves both ends of a
continuum (e.g., weak-strong), rather than just one end which is negated (e.g.,
weak-not weak: Denial 4) or overly stressed (Denial 6).
 Reversal may be scored where one end of the continuum is implied but not
explicitly stated (strength—weakness, implied by growing old).
 Do not score “growing old” by itself.
 Do not score if a character doesn’t know how to do something and then learns
how.
 Do not score if character was strong, became weak through tiredness, but in
the end won, or was strong again; or if sad, but through doing something,
becomes happy.

TAT NO Misperception Reversal
Distorted Perception Oppo
site
Sex
12MF (TAT12M) The girl on the
couch”[As of 2000, many see
this figureas female. Thus, after
this date, do not score “girl” as a
Misperception]
“(TAT12M) The boy is in a
coma and the man is hexing
him. The boy will get the man
in his power”;
17BM “ That’s a statue climbing down a
rope”
“ Is that a picture of me?” (S is 5
years old)
“(TAT17BM) I am in a big
cave and I’m caught . And
he’s half way up to the top
(Here the S has changed the
threatened “I” into “he”);
“He is an actress (S is 9 years
old)”A character first described
as a Father becomes a
Grandfather, or vice versa .

Denial
 4. Statements of Negation
 Simply stating something in the negative (e.g., “He didn’t do it”) is not sufficient to be
scored in this category .
 Whether or not to score a negative statement depends on whether the negation is
defensive.
 Sometimes this can be determined by the fact that the negative statement is
unusual or unexpected (e.g., “He didn’t stuff peanuts up his nose”) - i.e., that no
one would have expected this event to happen anyway, so why point out that it
didn’t happen.
 At other times the defensive nature of the negation is more straight forward (e.g.,
“He didn’t get hurt”).
 Often, only the context will make it clear if the statement is defensive or not.
 (a) Score if a character “does not ...” any action, wish, or intention , which,
if acknowledged, would cause displeasure, pain or humiliation.
 “He caught the mouse but did not kill him”;
 “He never fell down from ropes”
 (b ) Score also statements in which the story-teller negates or denies a
fact or feeling.
 “He is going to go hunting and catch something. I don’t know what,though”
 “I don’t know what that is (referring to whole card or part of card)”;
 “At first I thought he was dead, but he isn’t;”
 “No one is in that bed (CAT 5, referring to large bed)” “I don’t know where he
is going”.

Denial
 4. Statements of Negation …(b ) Score…. where he is going”.
 (c) References to doubt as to what the picture is or represents.
 “What is it? I don’t understand the picture”should be scored here, and
should be distinguished from references to difficulty in formulating a
story(“I can’t think of what to say”) which is an example of Repression.
 The difference lies in the fact that Denial generally operates on a more
concrete level, while Repression is seen in the person’s inability to think of
something .
 Do not score if “I don’t know” is used as a way to end a story, or is in
response to a question by the examiner.
 Do not score if a character wants to or tries to do something, but can’t or
isn’t able to, or doesn’t know how to.
 Do not score if a character doesn’t like something, or doesn’t want to do
something that is neutral or pleasant in nature (e.g, do not score “He
doesn’t want to practice the violin”)
 Do not score “He doesn’t want to get hurt, ”but do score “He doesn’t get
hurt”
 Do not score “He does not reveal it” (a secret, a clue)here; score under
PRO 4)
 Do not score, on TAT 17BM,
 “He’s got no clothes on”.

Denial
 5. Denial of Reality
 This is an overlapping category with Denial (4)
 (a)The story-teller denies the reality of the story or situation by the use of
phrases such as
 “It was just a dream”;
 “It didn’t really happen”
 “It was all make-believe”
 “(TAT 8BM) That’s really a dummy; when they cut it, it was all red cotton”;
 “They’re going to play (pretend) a fight”
 “(TAT 3BM): describing the gun as cap pistol or water pistol
 Describing the picture as part of a movie
o Do not scoreTAT8BM if it is described as a dream, due to the nebulous
atmosphere of the picture.
 (b) Sleeping, daydreaming or fainting as a way of avoiding something
unpleasant.
 (c) References to avoiding looking at something that would be unpleasant
to see, or hearing something that would be unpleasant to hear, or thinking
something that would be unpleasant to think.
 “He’s walking away because he doesn’t want to see the operation”
 (d)Any perception, attribution, or implication which is blatantly false with regard
to reality as generally defined or to reality as defined by the picture.
 “(CAT 10) The two dogs are playing checkers”;
 “(CAT 10, referring to crib) Nothing is in here”;

Denial
 5. Denial of Reality…“(CAT 10) He’s going to have puppies”
 “The dog climbs up the rope”;
 “(TAT15) He has come up out of his grave”
 “(TAT17BM) A statue climbing a rope” (score also under
Denial(2) for misperception of figure in the picture.
 The score under Denial(5) is for a statue doing something
which statues can not do in reality.
 Note: If the perception is not false so much as being unusual
or distorted,including seeing the picture as being of the
opposite sex from the usual perception, score under
Denial(2).
 Do not score running away from or avoiding ‘society’
here; score under Identification(3)
 B.Pollyannish Denial
 Pollyannish denial belongs to a later period of
development than primitive denial, and may involve a
rather saccharine,

Denial
 2.Misperception
 This may come about because
 The perceptual process itself is distorted due to pathology, or
 Because, in the case of a child or inexperienced person the name of the
object is not known, and the individual defensively calls it something it is
not.
 In a situation in which the individual does not have all the information needed,
he is able to cope adaptively, or
 whether he must distort the situation to fit his inadequate knowledge.
 Examples of adaptive coping are seen in the following two stories to TAT
1;in both cases, the child is uncertain about how to identify the violin:
 “This person is thinking what to do, with something that is in front
of him . He might use it for something, or something might happen.
The thing that might happen is that he might think of something to do
with the thing. (What happens?) He’s going to do something with it.
He’s thinking what he will use it for, what it is supposed to be used for;
on some kind of material, which is called paper.”
 “That’s a little boy. He’s down on his work bench and he’s looking
this over and he’s wondering what it is. And he’s wondering if he’ll
ever find out. He can’t wait ‘till his father comes home so he can ask
his father. And he’s kind of sitting there wondering when his father will
come home.”
 (a) Any unusual or distorted perception of a figure, object, or action in
the picture which is without sufficient support for the observation , if

Denial
 6. Overly Maximizing the Positive or Minimizing the Negative
 Any gross exaggeration or under estimation of a character’s
 Qualities,
 Potency,
 Size,
 Power,
 Beauty, or
 Possessions.
 “(CAT3) A small lion”;
 “An old lion (weakness implied)”;
 “The most beautiful in the world”;
 “The biggest in the world” (referring to person, animal, or parts of
these;
 “The eagle picks up the lion”;
 Note: If the exaggerated quality involves a reversal of the character’s
usual nature, score under Denial(3).
 Do not score exaggeration of physical objects (e.g., “the highest
mountain”; “he fell thousands of feet”)

Denial
 7. Unexpected Goodness, Optimism, Positiveness,
Gentleness
 (a)Unexpected goodness.
 This is a difficult category to score and should be scored
only when beyond doubt.
 It is often seen in instances of revenge, when the revenge is
built up to, but never consummated when the opportunity
arises.
 Building up to a theme of harm and then concluding without
justification that all is well is scored here.
 Also when a character “takes his lumps” or punishment or
bad luck completely in stride when all previous indications
were of an avenging “righteous indignation” attitude.
 “The lion chases the mouse for many hours; he finally
catches him, but then he lets him go”;
 “He has always failed, but he knows that he will be
successful in the end.”
 (b) Any sort of drastic change of heart for the good.“

Denial
 7. Unexpected Goodness, Optimism, Positiveness,
Gentleness
 (c) Also scored here are references to natural beauty,
wonder, awesomeness.“
 He realized the beauty and magnificence of the forest”
 “She contemplated the wonder of the universe”.
 “(TAT1) He found peace with his violin”
 “(TAT14) He finds enlightenment”
 (d) Nonchalance in the face of danger.
 (e) Acceptance of one’s (negative) fate or loss, with
the justification of not really wanting it anyway; a “sour
grapes” attitude.
 “He learns to make the best out of what he’s got.”
 Note: If the change for the good involves a moralistic
turn, score under Identification(7).
 Do not score “they lived happily ever after ” or similar

Denial
 6. Overly Maximizing the Positive or Minimizing the Negative
 Any gross exaggeration or under estimation of a character’s
 Qualities,
 Potency,
 Size,
 Power,
 Beauty, or
 Possessions.
 “(CAT3) A small lion”;
 “An old lion (weakness implied)”;
 “The most beautiful in the world”;
 “The biggest in the world” (referring to person, animal, or parts of
these;
 “The eagle picks up the lion”;
 Note: If the exaggerated quality involves a reversal of the character’s
usual nature, score under Denial(3).
 Do not score exaggeration of physical objects (e.g., “the highest

Denial
 7. Unexpected Goodness, Optimism, Positiveness, Gentleness
 (a)Unexpected goodness. This is a difficult category to score and should
be scored only when beyond doubt.
 It is often seen in instances of revenge, when the revenge is built up to,
but never consummated when the opportunity arises.
 Building up to a theme of harm and then concluding without justification
that all is well is scored here.
 Also when a character “takes his lumps” or punishment or bad luck
completely in stride when all previous indications were of an avenging
“righteous indignation” attitude.
 “The lion chases the mouse for many hours; he finally catches him,
but then he lets him go”;
 “He has always failed, but he knows that he will be successful in the
end.”
 (b) Any sort of drastic change of heart for the good.“
 He is a murderer who goes around killing people.
 But then he decides to become a doctor and saves many lives”.

Decoding tat 10 the defense mechanism manual part1(denial)

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